> Anyone know the name of a freeware program that cleans up all aspects of your computer from temp files to favourites. It makes a toilet flushing sound when cleaning if that helps. Thanks rodders <

I believe you are referring to the freeware utility which was/is developed by Steven Gould and is called CleanUp! which Runs on Windows 95 through Windows XP, and is available for download here at Major Geeks (at the link above).

Note:
I believe that the last 'stable' (non-beta) version was released in late March of 2006 was CleanUp! v4.5.1 - Click HERE for the details regarding the latest enhancements, new features and bug fixes.

I tend to agree with BCGray regarding the enhanced viability of CCleaner vs. Cleanup! While Cleanup! is usable; the CCleaner program covers more ground, cleans far more efficiently and is updated far more frequently (and also does not require a system 'restart' in order to complete the cleaning process).

Each find stuff that the other 3 miss. Open up your mind and try them.

MRU_Blaster cleans the Most Recently used lists.

I agree CCleaner does more things than Cleanup!.I agree that Cleanup! needs to be rebooted to finish its tasks, but that is mainly to get rid of user.dat files. I never reboot when it suggests that you do. It will clean the last stragglers on next bootup anyhow.I am not sure but I think CCleaner cannot reduce the size of user.dat until the next bootup anyhow, but doesn't emphasise the fact like Cleanup! does.I like Cleanup! because it shows how many files and the amount of space freed.CCleaner usually only show the amount of space freed.As for the Toilet noise, either put up with it (I always get a laugh from others when I install it), get rid of it as COMPUABLE has a link, or turn down the volume. You make your choice. Me, I just have the volume down, no biggy.

I have run Cleanup! on machines that have never had any housekeeping. One has 60,505 files, another the other day had over 10,000. It is a great way to show owners of the need for PC housekeeping routines.

Nice post Bazza, as my bosses say in work if you can argue your case then who can disagree and I agree with your 4 pronged attack as generally a single cleanup will not get everything so sometimes 2 or more are needed.

CCleaner is pretty good though you have to admit?

I actually use another direction of attack in East-Tech Eraser but that is not a free app but a great cleaner.

Thanks, Halo. Sometimes I feel frustrated that only CCleaner is recommended.
I love CCleaner and use it every day, but it is not the be-all and end-all.
It took me ages to find out that you can uninstall programs using CCleaner-->Tools.
I now use that in preference to the M$ Add/Remove.
The 4 that I listed will do me, I think. Bazza

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Halo

Nice post Bazza, as my bosses say in work if you can argue your case then who can disagree and I agree with your 4 pronged attack as generally a single cleanup all will get everything so sometimes 2 or more are needed.

CCleaner is pretty good though you have to admit?

I actually use another direction of attack in East-Tech Eraser but that is not a free app but a great cleaner.

>> Everyone is fixated on CCleaner. I use it daily but also use Cleanup!, EmpTemp and MRU_Blaster as well. Bazza <<

I agree as well; with your assessment here Bazza ...

While I believe CCleaner is a useful tool - it is most certainly not the 'end-all-be-all' which many to people on the web seem to claim or think it is. And like many cleaning tools; if the "Issues" options - CCleaner's built-in Registry Cleaner/Fixer - are incorrectly configured it can actually muck things up quite a bit. Using any registry cleaner (including CCleaner) without knowing what might happen if you simply check every option and/or click everything and then click ‘Fix Selected Issues’ can actually be very hazardous to any system.

I mostly use CCleaner because it works for my needs and the support is exceptional. There are many talented folks; who attend the onsite-forum, which is well-managed and moderated and I've also noticed that if the forum members cannot fix your problem w/CCleaner (or anything else for that matter) problems, the developer of the program will try to help you out with any questions, etc.

MRU_Blaster is a great little tool and also has many other options that few people know about or use in the "Settings" area including plugins for "Cookie Blaster v1.01" as well as "IE Temporary File Cleaner 1.1."

I liked actually really liked using Empty Temp Folders (EmpTemp as bazza posted) when I was running both Win 98/2000 because it was one of the few ‘cleaning’ applications which users were able to install without coping anything at all to the Windows system folders. And the last version 2.8.3 included a very detailed but easy-to-read through help file; something no other freeware utility provided at that time, as far as I know. And it can find broken shortcuts (.lnk files) on your hard disk, so you can delete or even fix them; another thing most other freeware cleaners could not do at that time.

It was also one of the first temp cleaner utilities which featured a variety of choices of predefined folders as well as the ability to actually add your own folders and offered quick access to Recycle Bin, etc. Additionally, the Empty Temp Folders v2.8.3 included the ‘EmpRunner’ which at that time; was a very innovative companion program that sits in your tray bar (optional) and can be used to run ETF at certain intervals.

However I don't really use Empty Temp Folders anymore because the program's author Finn Ekberg Christiansen hasn't updated the current version since Aug 2001 and according to many of the sites that still list this utility claim was specifically designed for Win 98/NT/ME/2000 and not XP; although I've heard in many forums that it works just fine using the Windows XP operating system.

When switched to Win XP I actually emailed the author (twice) from the email link at the Empty Temp Folders website to ask if it was OK to use version 2.8.3 on Windows XP but never received any response. Additionally, the author's website lists Shell Extension City and Download.com as praising this product; however the links provided by the author go nowhere and neither of these sites lists Empty Temp Folders anymore, the last time I checked.

In addition to CCleaner, I use EasyCleaner, just don't use its "Duplicates" scan, very risky. For hunting deeply buried junk I use HDCleaner. It's much more manual, however, you have to figure out what's safe to delete. Seems to find stuff nothing else does, but you might not know what to do with a lot of it.

>> For hunting deeply buried junk I use HDCleaner. It's much more manual, however, you have to figure out what's safe to delete. Seems to find stuff nothing else does, but you might not know what to do with a lot of it. greenknight32 <<

Another reliable and perhaps ‘lesser known’ cleaner; but most definitely a perennial and "faithful" favorite of mine! I originally started using HDCleaner as a hard drive cleaner primarily because it was also one of the first cleaners available as freeware; which offered to securely "Wipe Free Space" by deleting with DOD 5220.22-M Standard (3 passes) as well as the ability to generate html or text index of current directory using the available DIRTOHTML option.

Lacking the somewhat confusing 'bells-and-whistles' of currently available upstart cleaners; HDCleaner could also more easily be configured to an individual users needs and be utilized to very quickly remove space wasting files from your fattened PC. The program also supports swift cleaning of the IE cookie, cache and browser history cleaning and MRU entries (recent docs, search lists etc) as well as 'System Files Backup and Restore' options which allows the user to back up files and easily restore them in case of a major system failure; a feature sorely lacking in CCleaner and even many similar costly shareware cleaning products.

When I was still using Win/98/2000; I often put off defragging because the older installed Windows defrag utilities were always too slow and frustrating to use regularly. With little or no trouble this HDCleaner utility managed to remove invalid or unused information from my machine and compressed them down enough so that I could easily defragment my drives devoid of causing any problems during or after the cleaning/compression process - and most importantly - do so without harming my Win/98/2000 operating system.

Be sure to check out the grand 5 Stars review (a rare accolade for freeware listed on this site) of HDCleaner written by Major Geeks own Tim Tibbetts Click HERE.

Very Important Note: If you've never tried HDCleaner before I'd strongly advise you that you use one of the available program options with great caution - As the developer of this HDCleaner utility Kurt Zimmermann succinctly states on his main website: "HDCleaner also identifies garbage files on the HDD of the network computers. Careful with that option, folks"

FYI, I use Empty TEMP Folders v2.8.3 on XP Pro with SP2 every day.
Have done so on this laptop for over 2 months.
Works for me. : Still finds stuff that CCleaner and Cleanup! miss. Bazza

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Quote:

Originally Posted by COMPUABLE

>> Everyone is fixated on CCleaner. I use it daily but also use Cleanup!, EmpTemp and MRU_Blaster as well. Bazza <<

I agree as well; with your assessment here Bazza ...

I liked actually really liked using Empty Temp Folders (EmpTemp as bazza posted) when I was running both Win 98/2000 because it was one of the few ‘cleaning’ applications which users were able to install without coping anything at all to the Windows system folders. And the last version 2.8.3 included a very detailed but easy-to-read through help file; something no other freeware utility provided at that time, as far as I know. And it can find broken shortcuts (.lnk files) on your hard disk, so you can delete or even fix them; another thing most other freeware cleaners could not do at that time.

...

However I don't really use Empty Temp Folders anymore because the program's author Finn Ekberg Christiansen hasn't updated the current version since Aug 2001 and according to many of the sites that still list this utility claim was specifically designed for Win 98/NT/ME/2000 and not XP; although I've heard in many forums that it works just fine using the Windows XP operating system.

>> Thanks COMPUABLE. FYI, I use Empty TEMP Folders v2.8.3 on XP Pro with SP2 every day. Have done so on this laptop for over 2 months. Works for me. Still finds stuff that CCleaner and Cleanup! miss. Bazza <<

Oh thank you as well, Bazza;

I actually haven’t used Empty TEMP Folders in such a long time I've even almost forgotten want the interface looks like (lol); I might even try e-mailing the developer again to see if it will be updated soon! I know on the website the author states: "I've now got WinXP (thanks to a friendly donation) and version 2.9 will be ready (I hope) before summer!" But the site has posted that quote for quite a long time now; I'm pretty sure I saw the same quote about a year or so ago...

Also the developer does not sponsor any on-site forum or list currently "Known Bugs" (the only ones listed are the ones from AFTER the last update) - which I generally do not trust in something as important and even potentially damaging as 'cleaner' utilities; however based on your keen recommendations here in the forum, I think I'll definitely download it tonight and give it a re-test drive when I shut the computer down for the evening...

Thanks again Bazza - You most definitely bring out the adventurer in me! <>

You're welcome. We'll have to stop meeting like this. :D
Yep, I'm still trying to get people to move outside of their comfort box, and open their minds. Bazza

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Quote:

Originally Posted by COMPUABLE

>> Thanks COMPUABLE. FYI, I use Empty TEMP Folders v2.8.3 on XP Pro with SP2 every day. Have done so on this laptop for over 2 months. Works for me. Still finds stuff that CCleaner and Cleanup! miss. Bazza <<

Thanks again Bazza - You most definitely bring out the adventurer in me! <>

>> You're welcome. We'll have to stop meeting like this. :D Yep, I'm still trying to get people to move outside of their comfort box, and open their minds. Bazza <<

Oh, I'm not worried about my mind - that irreparably crashed years ago - it’s actually my data I like to keep in the “XP Compliance Comfort Zone!”

I’m kidding really; I actually have a ‘testing’ computer that has no valuable data (Just an XP operating system and a few other test software utilities/programs on it) which I use for testing or retesting “Gilligan’s Island Apps” that come from developers who have no onsite forum, offer little or no support, answer their e-mail every time a comet passes within near earth orbit and/or rarely update their primary sites.